On Dec. 15, Jake Paul will box again. It will be the eighth fight of the influencer turned professional boxers’ career. He’ll be taking on Andre August, a legitimate boxer with a 10-1-1 record. It will be the second time Paul has boxed a boxer.
Paul (7-1) has fought mainly retired former mixed martial artists. He’s defeated Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley (twice), Anderson Silva, and Nate Diaz after beginning his career against fellow YouTuber AnEsonGib and former NBA player Nate Robinson. The fights with AnEsonGib, Ben Askren, Nate Robinson and Nate Diaz were boxing debuts for his opponents. His lone career loss came to the first boxer that he faced, Tommy Fury.
The match against August takes place at the Caribe Royale Orlando, in Orlando, Fla. Paul believes fighting August puts him on the path to eventually becoming a world champion.
“This is a big step for me toward becoming world champion. We have an amazing opponent, more experience, more knockouts, in Orlando, Florida exclusively on DAZN. It’s going to be a massive, massive event,” Paul told TMZ Sports.
“I’ve got to challenge myself. I think when I said, ‘I’m going to become world champion,’ people took it as ‘oh, he’s just marketing. He’s just saying things to make his fights bigger, to seem more legit.’ No. That’s what I’m going to do, and this is the path to get there, treating myself and my career now as a young boxing prospect. Doing what other fighters who are world champions now did in their ninth fight,” Paul continued.
Related: PFL now offering Nate Diaz $15 million to fight Jake Paul in MMA
This fight isn’t about the pay-per-view sales and making money for Paul. It’s about gaining experience inside the ring.
“It’s less about the business and pay-per-view sales. We’ve already done that and generated hundreds of millions of dollars in pay-per-views. This is about the experience,” said Paul. “This is probably just like a break even fight for me. I probably won’t even make money on it. Who knows what the outcome is… It’s not about the money. It’s really about focusing in, staying sharp, and the experience of challenging myself in the ring with these guys who have been doing this their whole life. He’s a beast. He’s a dog and he’s coming to win. This is his make or break moment as a boxer himself, so it’s going to be a really good fight.”
“He’s very strong. He’s very athletic, comes forward, has great punching power, throws punches in bunches, a lot of combinations and hides some of his shots well,” Paul said of his opponent. “He works to the body. He’s good. He’s good. He’s a great, great fighter and that’s why he’s 10-1 and has been on a seven-fight win streak. I definitely have a real opponent in front of me. When I wake up in the morning I know this guy is coming to try and take my head off, so that motivates me. That’s why I love taking hard fights like this to challenge myself.”
https://www.mmaweekly.com/news/jake-paul-andre-august-fight-not-about-money-its-about-the-experience
